


Candy Hearts And Chocolate Kisses

by LiterallyLen



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-01 07:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17863064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyLen/pseuds/LiterallyLen
Summary: “It’s going… I guess. God why do Social Welfare majors have to take philosophy courses again?”“Liberal agenda probably,” he shrugs, mock serious, which makes her snort. It’s her dryly amused kind of laugh, definitely in the top five Eliza Laughs but still has nothing on her surprisingly delighted one. When she laughs like that, without abandon, her whole face brightens ten fold, and her breaths spill out in this lovely sort of staccato, and Alexander swears he could parse out a thousand different shades that glimmer in her dark eyes.





	1. Cupid, how thou has forsaken me

“Thanks,” Eliza beams up at him, unassuming and beautiful. 

“Anytime,” Alexander says, passing over her venti passion fruit tea with light ice and a twist of lemonade, as he takes the seat across from her in the Starbucks edging Colombia’s campus. “So how’s the essay going?”

She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip, obviously abashed as she averts her gaze. 

“It’s going… I guess. God why do Social Welfare majors have to take philosophy courses again?”

“Liberal agenda probably,” he shrugs, mock serious, which makes her snort. It’s her dryly amused kind of laugh, definitely in the top five Eliza Laughs but still has nothing on her surprisingly delighted one. When she laughs like that, without abandon, her whole face brightens ten fold, and her breaths spill out in this lovely sort of staccato, and Alexander swears he could parse out a thousand different shades that glimmer in her dark eyes.

AH, erm… It’s not strange for Alexander to think that, or have it memorized. Or the fact that he’s got her different laughs and smiles and greetings of hello catalogued and corresponding to her overall mood… It’s not weird! And truly, even if he did, per se, that’s not even strange. She’s his friend, one of his best friends. They’ve been that way since he first met her at the start of the year when Angelica had thrown a whole party for basically everyone who mattered on campus, just to celebrate the fact that her baby sister was finally joining her in the college life.

The first time Alexander laid his eyes on Eliza Schuyler— Well, ah, nothing went boom…. Not technically. Okay well maybe technically, and metaphorically and literally. Maybe he was kind of blown away and lovestruck by her pretty face, and bright eyes, and how she was the best approximation of a Disney princess come to life in fucking existence… But, that meant nothing, truly. Him and Laurens were still trying to figure out what exactly they were to one another after so many years of on again, off again. And she was firmly off limits to anyone Angelica deemed a “dog” (So of course Alexander was on the top of that list.) And honestly, it’d never have worked out anyway. Eliza’s this almost mythic girl. Beautiful, and compassionate and brilliant in her own right, not even mentioning the fact that she’s the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in this side of the hemisphere. Girls like Eliza Schuyler are securely out of bounds from Alexander’s world. She’s so far fucking out of his league, it’s not even funny. Hell, they’re not even playing the same sport! Eliza’s the starting midfielder for the fucking Red Socks or whatever, and Alexander’s riding the benches for some irrelevant ass curling team.

It’s just the way things are, like how the sky’s blue and the world spins around the sun. Eliza’s out of his league, and Alexander can’t do shit about it. But at the very least he’s got her like this, now. With her so close, but also so far out of his reach.

She’s dressed in a oversized sweater with her Sorority’s letters plastered all over it, and her hair’s wrapped into a messy topknot, and she looks all together frazzled, but still beautiful. And Alexander is able to call her his friend, even if that limitation can sometimes chafe at him. 

“Hmm, I think I’m about done.” She crows, her final taps on the keyboard harder than necessary. 

“Want me to look over it?” Alexander asks with a quirked brow, taking a sip of his pike. 

“Nah, it’s fine, It’s not due till next week anyways. I just wanted to get it out of the way so I could help out with the Sorority preparations and all. You know Ange, she’s already planning for me to run for president when she has to step down.”

Alexander feels his heart sink while watching her gather her things in her North Face backpack.

“Right, I forgot you guys were holding that Valentine’s Day formal.” 

“Cheesy I know, but Kitty thinks it’ll get traction, and we could probs get a bunch of donations with the candy grams and flowers sent out.”

Alexander nods, passive.

“You coming? I bet you could bring Laurens? His and Laf’s Frat is always welcome and you’re basically an honorary member by now.” 

“That’d be awkward, since we’re really not doing that anymore, the whole dating thing I mean.”

Eliza freezes, her gaze flickering upwards with confusion. 

“Really? I thought you guys were like gonna end up married and with kids.”

This, this right here. This’s one of those moment’s Alexander is sure he’s gonna look back on when he’s like eighty-five and writing his memoir. This’d be the moment where he’d either admit all his feelings to the person of his dreams. Divulge to her how he and Laurens didn’t work out because he’s so totally lost on her, and in love with her. And no matter how much he loves Laurens, this right here— her, Eliza’s something permanent and splendid and when he looks at her he sees his forever. 

Or this could be the moment he completely screws up, and is forced to write about how he let the one go because the most vital time he actually needs to use his words to get what he wants, to a painstaking degree, none end up bubbling up.

If he plays his cards write Alexander could make something wonderful happen here… But he’s never been one for poker, and again— There’s the facts of life, and he needs to just except them already. 

Alexander shrugs, and doesn’t admit anything.

“Just stopped clicking I guess.”

Eliza frowns, sympathetic. 

“Hey I’m sorry Alexander, I know breakups suck.”

He kinks up a brow, physically incapable not to tease.

“You and Andre have been together since your Freshman year of high school.”

Eliza blushes, abashed and adorable all at once. 

“True, I guess then I just know the metaphorical sense of it then.”

“Yeah,” it’s this time for Alexander to look away, hiding the hurt that’s surely painted all over his face. (As if she’d ever say otherwise.)

“Well you can go with me then!”

“What?”

“Oh it’d be so much fun!” She insists with even more pep, standing up now. “I’m the treasurer of the sorority, and you’re the treasurer of the whole freaking school government ! Think about all the cute little insta captains we could put!”

“But…. You’re not single? And this’s a Valentine’s day dance.”

“Oh hush,” Eliza chides, waving him off. “John’s still in London for that family wedding till the eighteenth. And we’re friends! So it’s even better! We can be the ones who like stand in the corner and make fun of everyone else who’s being all lovey-dovey.”

“Are you sure…?”

“Totally! It’s decided then! I’ll text you what color shirt to wear under your blazer, And don’t bother with a tie, I like a more laid back look anyhow.”

With that, she winks at him before scurrying off to soccer practice— Alexander would like to pretend he doesn’t stare at how her leggings hug her ass in the exact right way.

He fails at both.


	2. All These Possibilities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “And we wanna help,” Angelica reminds her. “Now honestly, do you think you and Alexander can go to this thing platonically?”
> 
> Eliza worries on her bottom lip, looking at anything but the three of them.

“You’re late,” Angelica chimes while Eliza scrambles into her seat across from her in the quiet bistro, happily excepting the crape and coffee Kitty passes her way.

“I just had class, don’t start.” 

The sisters stick their tongues out at each other, playful and teasing.

“You two about done?” Kitty, the outreach coordinator, asks while pulling out her binder. 

“Yes, of course,” Angelica sniffs, straightening back up into her presidential posture.

“Vice President Conway, you wanna take minutes?” 

“Sure,” Maria says with a pop of her dumb. “You guys figure out what we’re putting in the goody-bags that they’re gonna raffle for yet?”

“Mhmm, I checked the budget and I think we can go with the Lush theme, Mulligan has a car on campus and offered to drive me to the nearest one this afternoon to buy the supplies.” 

“But what about the guys who raffle and win them?” Angelica asks her, never pulling back critiques even if it’s Eliza.

“It should be fine, John steals my shampoo bars all the time. I’ll just get really neutral scents and besides we’ve got that donation of the Mac Book to entice them in the first place.” 

“Nice scoring that BTW Bessey,” Kitty smiles.

“But speaking of Andre,” Maria pries, scooting closer with a leer. “How did Prince Charming take it when you told’m you were going with a certain boy genius to the formal?”

“Wh-whaaa?” Eliza hates how she can literally feel her cheeks flush red. “Why do you think he’d even care?”

Kitty snorts from her left.

“Because you’ve been moony over him since forever?”

“Untrue!”

“Baby sister, I’m sorry but it totally is. I remember your face when I brought him home for the first time a couple years ago, right before you and Kitty left for spring break that year. It was like you were struck by lightening.”

“Anne, stop! That’s not true!” 

“You guys remember how jealous Andre got when Eliza and Hamilton went out to that house party in the fall without him because he had to study?” Maria cackles.

“Oh yeah!” Kitty joins her. “It only begs the question of how he reacted to this, don’t ya think?”

Eliza frowns, totally cross.

“Oh c’mon sourpatch,” Angelica toots, bopping her on the nose from across the table. “We’re all family here, you can tell us the truth.”

“Which is?” Eliza challenges with a huff, her arms wrapped tight against her chest.

“That when you found out Laurens and Hamilton were donezo for reals, you got super excited, and then disappointed because you’re still technically with Andre even after the fight that shall not be named.”

“You mean the one when he tried to give her a diamond ring under the guise of a promise ring?” Maria asks with no tact.

“And then Eliza started screaming at him that she’s not his fucking property and he can’t trick her into such a serious commitment, then made him go to his cousins wedding all by himself?” Kitty finishes.

“You’re all awful people who know too much about my life,” Eliza scolds with no real heat. 

“Perhaps,” Maria reasons with a one armed shrug.

“But we also love you to the moon and back,” Kitty points out, lying her head on Eliza’s shoulder.

“And we wanna help,” Angelica reminds her. “Now honestly, do you think you and Alexander can go to this thing platonically?”

Eliza worries on her bottom lip, looking at anything but the three of them. 

“You guys seem to forget that even if it was true that I had some residual feelings form a school girl crush I may or may not have had on him like two years ago—“

“Monica and Chandler esque, no?” Maria smirks, but Eliza ignores her.

“Even if that was a thing! It’s still a platonic date because first of all, I’m still technically with Andre-“

“I’ve always agreed with Ross that a break is a break, no relationship to be had.”

“Alexander would have to feel any sort of romantic way towards me, and he most certainly does not!”

“Why so sure?” Angelica glares.

“Anne, we all know him and Laurens are gonna get back together eventually.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Kitty says with a singsong sort of voice. “Me and Laurens went to that NYU party last weekend and he basically spent the entire time lamenting how him and Alex are totally over, and he wishes that they could just stay friends… And then he talked about the impending alien invasion, but I think that was just because the bud we got was not quite up to sniff.”

“Okay… Strange, but also Alexander’s probably sad and vulnerable too, and the idea of anything romantic is the absolute last thing on his mind!”

“Oh c’mon Liza Minelli,” Maria says with exasperation. “You can not seriously be blind to how he gazes at you?”

“Gazes at me?” Eliza asks with a wrinkled nose.

“Like you are the last standing goddess of ancient Rome,” she says with an exasperated swoon.

“Like you’ve set all the stars in the sky and hung the moon while you were at it!” Kitty snorts.

“That’s not true, Alexander looks at everyone like that!”

“Eliza, no.” Angelica contends. “He is so totally lost on you, and I know that for fact. But the question is if you’re at all into him?”

It feels like Eliza’s stomach just dropped. 

“I— I don’t know, and how do you even know that Alexander feels that way!”

“Never give away your sources love,” she winks good naturedly. “And I reckon you should think on that before Saturday night.”

“Fine, can we just move on and get back to the task at hand,” she almost lashes out, and Eliza’s apologetic sure, but also, this’s all just too much of an information overload. Her mind’s being tugged like twenty different directoins and she has no idea what to do.

“Okay, fine, whatever you want.”

“You guys wanna talk about how Lucy’s on this no carb diet, and apparently her lit major boyfriend is like literally allergic to gluten?” Maria says, distasteful. 

“Well I think we’re ordering a couple pizzas with gluten free crusts, but is there a room in the budget to order any substitutes that we can put out?”

 

Eliza swallows down all the questions that had begun to squirm up her throat and clack around in her mouth to ask Angelica. To ask if Alexander had told her about his feelings for Eliza himself. Whether or not he knows that she might have very similar feelings towards him. If Angelica can demonstrate just exactly how he apparently looks at Eliza in comparison to other people. But mostly, Eliza just wants her big sister to card a hand through her hair and tell her exactly what she should do from here, just like she had when they were little girls and their problems were limited to what color tutu they should garnish and which girls to invite to their sleepovers. 

It was so much easier, and now every decision she makes hurts.

Eliza feels like she’s lost at sea, but she just shakes her head and pinches her shoulders straight. She has a job to do and she does it,, opening up the balance spreadsheet for the formal and examines if there’s any spare change or a section that they could take money away from. She’s not going to let this swallow her whole. 

She resolutely does not think of Alexander, or his pretty, electric eyes and megawatt smile. She doesn’t think of how he makes her chest contract and gut twist up into knots. She doesn’t think how he’s one of the first people who doesn’t talk down to her as if she’s just a pretty airhead, and treats her like someone he relied on.

Eliza doesn’t think of any of that. She doesn’t, or else she’ll get lost in it.

 

***

**Author's Note:**

> "She’s dressed in a oversized sweater with her Sorority’s letters plastered all over it, and her hair’s wrapped into a messy topknot, and she looks all together frazzled, but still beautiful. And Alexander is able to call her his friend, even if that limitation can sometimes chafe at him. "
> 
> I think that's my favorite line just because of the moooood
> 
> Thank you guys os so much for reading this!!! It would mean the whole entire world to me if you let me know in the comments if you liked it or not, or if you think I should continue this silly littlee AU.
> 
> Come scream at me on [Tumblr](http://bansheebabbles.tumblr.com)
> 
> All y Love!  
> ~Len


End file.
